A Forced Hero is Back
by JJackson29
Summary: After Eru has spent twenty-one years remembering her dear uncle Sekitani Jun as a hero, with Houtarou next to her for the last fourteen, they are now both at the edge of the unbelievable.


I don't think I've ever run this fast, and under heavy rain. There she stands, fixing eyes in the void instead of me, with her cellphone still on ear, even though I hung right before starting to run. Now that she has realized I'm rushing towards her trying to slow my pace down a few meters from her, she starts walking forward without being remotely concerned about her now dampened hair and shoulders. I reach her and hold her arms so I can move her back under the restaurant's tent. I try to catch my breath so I can ask her why she went under the rain and why was it so urgent to see me… She leans closer and murmurs:

" _He_ is back."

 _He? Who…_ Can it be…?

I don't know what to say, and she seems to have it worse.

The restaurant is lending us a pair of towels, and since she can barely move, I dry her hair and coat as much as possible with the small towels. She's so absent. Now is my turn, and even though I'm drenched, I don't really care, just drying my head is enough, I'll change clothes later.

As I thank the waitress who helped us so kindly, we go back to the street, luckily, the rain is lighter. We don't have an umbrella since all of this happened so suddenly. I cannot let go of her hand because if I do, she'll stop walking. Her delicate hand is too cold to come from such a warm person; she looks somewhat paler, if it weren't because of the weather that reddens her nose and cheeks, she wouldn't have any color on her soft face.

We keep on walking under the roofs of the stores on the sidewalk until we get to the corner. She holds my arm and, as if she knew what's in my mind –she can read me that easily-, pulls me back.

"Let's walk instead." The way she says it, with those begging eyes, still looking lost, and an almost inaudible voice just makes me worry of how shocked she is. But I can't agree to that no matter how hard it is to tell her _no_ right now. It's for the best.

"Under the rain? You might get a cold; you're not completely dry yet." She looks down and makes the denial harder. "Sure we could walk, but your house is a little too far from here. Do you want to keep them waiting longer?" She shakes her head. There we go. "Let's take a cab, then." And we take a taxi.

I know the reason why she wants to walk; the ride will take us about thirty minutes, while walking all the way to her parent's would take us about one or two hours. She wants to think. She wants to process the right words that have been piling up for years, she wants to be ready. And since I want her to have a little peace before we get there, I ask the driver not to go too fast because she's feeling a little rough.

I have to stop at the office, there's my jacket and I need her to change that drenched coat before she starts sneezing. We stop and I ask them to give me just one minute. She absently nods and the driver looks at the mirror, worried.

"Oreki…" Right now I can't stop and answer his questions.

"I just came for my jacket, I won't be back tonight." That's all I allow myself to say so no one asks me anything else. "Do you know where I can borrow an umbrella?"

"Sure. Down at the protection supplies department." That's right, that's where we receive the bulletproof vests and black umbrellas every time a scene has to be checked for evidence; something must be wrong, how could I have forgotten about that? Takumi's confused as to my behavior and I can't do anything about it. "What's going on?" He wonders.

"A family matter." There's no time to explain the whole story and he realizes of that. Good thing he knows when to stop asking.

Everybody in the department looked at me as if I were a stranger intruding the building. I guess it must be very odd to see Oreki Houtarou in such a rush. I've gotten what I came here for and that's all that matters.

I'm back on the cab and she's in the exact same position. I hate seeing her like this, I want it to stop, but I know it's just too much for her. Someone has to stay calmed and handle the other, and there's no way she can handle anybody right now. So I have to stay close and help her overtaking this surprising turn of events.

"Take the coat off." I ask her with the softest voice I can so she doesn't feel pressured. "Put this on, it's warmer." She doesn't replay with words but she does give me the wet coat and lets me cover her with the jacket. I brought a box of tissues from my desk to absorb any water we leave on the sits protected with plastic since I'm still soaked.

After fifteen minutes we're halfway there, and she holds my hand weakly. The next half of the trip is about to end, the driver will stop at the Chitandas' gate and we'll be a few steps from facing him. As we arrive, she clenches my hand and her eyes fill up with tears she doesn't want to let go just yet.

"We'll enter the house whenever you feel ready." We go up the stairway one step at a time. She stops right at the gate and I cannot push her forward, I know it's still hard for her to imagine what's going to happen. So she comes closer and I try to comfort her by placing my available arm around her shoulders. Without a doubt, she holds me tighter. Her hair is slightly wet.

"I can't believe he's in there waiting for us." Her voice isn't empty now, but it quivers.

"He is waiting for _you_. Don't keep him like this, that's cruel." I trigger something that makes her pull herself back.

"Let's hurry then." She smiles and her eyes are shining again. That's my girl.

She holds my hand strongly looking into my eyes to gain some strength. Now we walk the stone path and open the door at the end of the way. I close the black umbrella. This is it.

As we walk in nobody, receives us, her parents must be in the living room waiting for their daughter to appear. She's much more confident now than an hour ago. We walk through the long hall. The door at the end is wide open and here we go.

He looks at us as we step onto the frame of the door. He surely looks like he has gone through a lot; I can't imagine all the difficulties he had in his life as a politically dead person. He looks experienced but not as old as he should be; the things he must have seen; the people he must have missed.

It's been fifty nine years since his sacrifice, twenty one since he started the journey that changed his life, fourteen since he was declared politically dead, and about two hours since he arrived to this house.

Sekitani Jun. Sekitani Jun is alive. Sekitani Jun stands in front of us.

I let her go and she walks towards this old man right in front of us, the first steps are hesitating, but the last are fast and secure. He stands up and receives his ever beloved niece into his arms, and she allows herself to cry on his shoulder. His eyes flood with water as well, but tears stay right there, he must have learned to contain them being away from his family for so long.

"I am not going anywhere, Eru." Those words sound so profoundly sincere that make her tears heavier. The way he smiles is like hers. If I didn't know what's happening, I'd believe this man right here is her father. Even though I know she had been thinking the exact words she wanted to use for this reencounter, all she can let out are cries of relief.

His hair and beard are already gray. He's a big man, looking tough and strong for his age, but just as wise.

Seeing him holding her anyone can notice how fragile she is, I bet that's why he tightens her with such delicacy, he remembers her brittleness.

"Oreki-san, you are all drenched, we can ask Ibuki-san to bring you some dry clothes." Her mother says.

"I'll go look for them by myself, thank you, Chitanda-san." I can't avoid feeling happy just by seeing them, I know I'm smiling. She nods with the same smile. Without mentioning it, we all agree to leave the room for a moment since they have a lot to say to each other.

I know where my clothes are, we use the old closet in Eru's bedroom as a backup wardrobe. I take just whatever is warm enough to counteract the cold and keep myself presentable to the family.

I walk into the room and see that the two of them are sitting down at the little table. The smell of the coffee he was served fills in the place with the same nostalgic aroma the Pineapple Sand had fourteen years ago when she _confessed_ to me the case of her disappeared uncle. That one head breaking mystery changed an important part of my life, it made me consider my gray lifestyle and envy a rose-colored life, but more relevantly, it entwined Eru and me from then on. I owe him having put her in my way, or putting me in hers, actually.

"Oh, Houtarou-san, please, come sit." She calls me out. He is looking at me with a grin on his beardy face. She had told me he was a very amiable person, that simple smile is enough proof. I come closer and sit down. "Uncle, this is Oreki Houtarou, my husband."

"Sir, you have my greatest respect." I bow with my hands on the floor because I really mean these words.

"I must tell you, Oreki- san, you have stolen my words." He is doing the same. I can't believe I have Sekitani Jun's respect. "But let us stop all formalities or we will never go on with the conversation, and I want to know more about you, young man." His way of speaking is so affable, just like Eru's.

"He makes me very happy." As I rise back, she reaches my hand and clenches it tenderly. Anyone can feel her sincerity just by looking into her deep, mesmerizing eyes.

I sit next to her and he gives us _the look_ , the kind of stare a father has when he accepts his daughter is with the one she loves, a sign of her not being a little girl anymore.

"You two… Congratulations on your marriage. Who would have said that I would get to see you like a woman when I remember you as a little girl."

We give a "Thank you so much" in unison and both bow with the palms on the floor. It feels like our marriage is being blessed again.

It's been hours of talking about ourselves, he insists and prefers not to talk about himself yet; he rather listens to how we met, when we started dating, when we got engaged, when we got married, and all those important pieces of our lives. Above all, he wants to know everything about Eru specifically. But we do not talk about the Hyouka anthology and how we figured it out back in the Classics Club, that's a difficult topic since the incident we talked about meant too much to him and he doesn't seem to want to talk about it right now, so we're focusing in the joy of his arrival.

It's two already and this has been a long night. I notice she's tired; she looks sleepy but wants to keep the conversation up.

"I cannot believe how fast time went by." He comments. "Do you not think it is about time to go have some rest?" He's noticed Eru's exhaustion.

"I'm fine, what about you, Houtarou-san?"

"Being honest, it's been a long day; a little rest would do just fine." I have to convince her, she doesn't look very awaken. She should have some sleep at this point.

After her uncle and me insisting, we get her to go to bed. How stubborn she can be by wanting to stay up and how naïve by thinking it isn't obvious she's tired every time she can't hold back a yawn. Her parents do not mind having us over, my car is at work and needs to be fixed, and cabs don't pass by this house unless one calls them, so it would be troublesome to try getting back home.

We've been over a couple of times, like Christmas or New Year, and every time we stay in her old bedroom. Each time I enter that room it's like seeing her go back to when we were in high school and her room, as it is kept today, was too childlike for someone her age. She took some stuff to our apartment when we got back from the honeymoon, including that huge stuffed tomato I gave her years ago at a festival.

We have two futons; it's embarrassing to think about the reason why her parents gave us an extra one on our first night over after we got married. They would've rather kept us in two separate bedrooms. Later they realized, thanks to an overwhelmingly embarrassing conversation, that they could trust our maturity. One way or the other, we always wake up on one of the futons, it's just normal for us to stay close.

"Thank you for being here." She whispers as she lies on my arm before falling asleep.

"I agreed to everything you needed me for when I married you, didn't I? No matter how much of a headache you can give me." She's so bright and her sleepy eyes appear to reflect all that is inside of her, the happiness she's experiencing right now won't give her anything but inner peace. She laughs quietly before closing her eyes completely.

But I still wonder if Sekitani Jun's promise will last forever, because I do not want to see her tumble down if he has to leave again.


End file.
